FIFA and UEFA have banned Russia from all footballing competitions following attacks on Ukraine.
FIFA and UEFA have confirmed that Russia and Russian clubs will play no further part in their competitions till further notice following attacks on Ukraine.
Russia has also been expelled from the World Cup after being suspended from all international competitions “until further notice”, FIFA and UEFA announced in a joint statement on Monday, while European football’s governing body also ended its partnership with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The decision to ban Russia from all football-related competitions was adopted by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, the highest decision-making bodies of FIFA and UEFA.
This means the Russian national team will not play in the upcoming World Cup and while club will not be participating in the European Championships, while Spartak Moscow have also lost their place in the Europa League.
The Russia men’s national team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, while its women’s side had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July.
The announcement also affects Russian clubs involved in European competitions.
“FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice,” read the joint statement from the governing bodies of world and European football.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” the statement added.
“Both presidents (Gianni Infantino and Aleksander Ceferin) hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
The decisions come after a widespread outcry, with global players’ union FIFPro on Monday releasing a statement saying it “strongly disagreed” with the initial measures taken by FIFA.
FIFPro criticised FIFA for not imposing stronger sanctions right away and said that participation of Russian teams in international competitions was now “not a possibility”.
With other nations also coming out to say they would not play against Russia, FIFA and UEFA were left with little choice.
FIFA had to act quickly before the upcoming World Cup play-offs and with the draw for the tournament due to be held in Doha on April 1.
Russia were supposed to play the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland in their group at the women’s Euro in England in July.
Meanwhile Spartak Moscow were scheduled to play RB Leipzig of Germany in the last 16 of the Europa League.
They were the only remaining Russian team in European competition this season.
UEFA said it had ended its partnership with Gazprom, one of its main sponsors, “effective immediately”.
Gazprom has been a key sponsor of UEFA since 2012 and was believed to have been paying around 40 million euros ($45 million) a year in a deal due to run until 2024.
Russian football federation president Alexander Dyukov, boss of Gazprom Neft, the petrol branch of Gazprom, is a member of the UEFA’s executive committee.
German club Schalke 04 also announced Monday it had prematurely ended its shirt sponsorship deal with Gazprom.
UEFA last week stripped the Russian city of Saint Petersburg of this season’s Champions League final, moving the game on May 28 to Paris.